The less you know about A League of Her Own, the better.
While that might sound like the start of a negative review or an invitation to stop reading, it isn't. Lack of audience awareness is central to how the play operates. And even that simple statement might come close to divulging too much information.
"We purposely don't talk about the plot," says Allison Price, the play's director and a co-writer of the piece along with Abby Ferree and Jonah Fujikawa. The trio are bringing the show to Spokane for a six-performance run.
"We want the audience to come in and be as surprised and as taken off guard as the character is about what is happening in her life," Price says.
To that end, the play's tagline is a simple rhetorical question: "What would you do for a good night's rest?" The press kit prioritizes glowing audience and critic testimonials over plot points. The performances even take place in private homes, with audience members often having to venture through backyards or empty lots to find the entrance.
"When we first staged it in Austin," Texas, Fujikawa says, "the audience had to walk through the neighborhood. It was 90 degrees. There were police sirens, dogs barking. They had to walk through all this grass, and some of them were like, 'Am I allowed to be here? I don't feel like I'm supposed to be here.'"
"Which is exactly what the character feels," adds Price. "She, too, had to walk through new environments, questionable environments to find a safe haven. This means the audience goes through that exact journey as well."
"From a marketing and artistic standpoint, we want to make sure that it's this immersive experience," says Fujikawa.
But he also makes clear that there's more to the audience involvement than that. There's a marked advocacy angle to A League of Her Own that rests on the audience being able to empathize fully with the terror and uncertainty of the main character.
"Under the law in many states, there are more protections for the perpetrators of certain crimes than the victims. And these victims don't get a warning. So what we're really trying to do is put the audience in the same circumstance as these victims find themselves, to really put them in their shoes," Price explains.
She deliberately sidesteps mentioning specific crimes or specific victims, because those specifics inevitably get saddled with preconceptions.
Price first hatched the idea for A League of Her Own a little over a year ago. It emerged out of a single image that had formed in her mind: "A woman sitting in a chair with a shotgun, waiting for someone to come," in Fujikawa's words, and the scene was loosely rooted in the experience of her two close family members.
After co-developing the script with Ferree and Fujikawa, they looked for available venues — places like basements, garages and back porches — around their hometown of Austin. Then came the task of promoting a play that they could barely describe for fear of giving away too many spoilers.
Audiences came, however. They braved the strange neighborhoods and the odd venues and took seats among the very small groups that were allowed into each performance. One trio of women showed up with wine, thinking that they were ready to kick back at an exclusive theater preview. At the end of the performance, the bottle was still full.
"Of the overall experience, everyone said that it was probably one of the most thrilling, edge-of-the-seat experiences that they had had in a very long time," Price says. "We would have audience members stay for a really long time after the show ended asking us questions and saying, 'I can't believe this is real. Why isn't anyone talking about this?'"
On one memorable evening during the initial run, the show only had three attendees. Two were known theater critics. After the performance, all three audience members left quietly and unceremoniously.
"About five minutes later, we're striking, cleaning up," Fujikawa recalls, "and one of the guys walks back into the backyard. He was like, "Who directed this?' And we thought, 'Oh, no, he's mad. He's going to yell at us.'"
"I walked up and said, 'It's me. Hello,'"' Price says. "And then he grabbed my hand and said, 'That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Is this real? Do things like this happen?'"
"We were like, 'Yes,'" says Fujikawa. "And he said, 'I'm going to go home and hug my wife and my kids.' That was so important to us. That's exactly the kind of response we were trying to get."
Price and Fujikawa are hopeful for similar reactions when they bring A League of Her Own to Spokane in late November in partnership with Spokane Playwrights Laboratory. A local actor, Skyler Moeder, will feature in the play's lead (and only) role, and a local theater advocate is providing the basement venue.
"One of the big motivators for bringing this up to Spokane is to foster a diverse arts scene," Price says. As a born-and-raised Spokanite herself, she wants to see more "site-specific, indie theater" and provide different roles for area actors. "We're really trying to give back to the community in terms of experiences, opportunities and collaboration."
A League of Her Own does come with a preshow content warning and is probably not suitable for under-18s. It also has a cap of 10 seats per performance. But rather than those being limiting factors, Price says that they serve to underscore the play's message and enhance its impact.
"It's so different from a big house show where you can hide in the back," she says. "Here, there's no hiding. Each show is for you. It's so personal." ♦
A League of Her Own • Nov. 26-Dec. 2 at 7:30 pm; Sat-Sun at 8 and 11 pm, Thu at 8 pm, Fri at 11 pm • $20 • Private residence • 2603 W. Glass Ave. • LOHO2022.eventbrite.com